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I shared with y'all last week that Little B and I are starting up a food drive as well as making Snack Packs for local children as part of the Champions for Kids Abbott Nutrition Pack a Snack Mission. Baby B and I went to one of our many local Walmart stores to get items for the Abbott Nutrition Snack Packs simple service mission that we are doing for Champions for Kids and items for our food drive. You can see all the items we purchased in my Champions for Kids Abbott Pack a Snack mission Google+ album.

We purchased PediaSure, PediaSure SideKicks, Zone Perfect nutrition bars and other foods and toiletries to donate. I knew that there were many children here that needed assistance with getting meals but I did not realize it was as bad as it really is. There are about 60,000 here in the Blue Ridge area of VA that deal with hunger. We took things a step farther than just fixing up some snack packs and we are starting up our own food drive to get items to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank here in VA. Little B says that it's not fair that other kids don't get the chance to eat all the foods like he does. He has a heart as big as his body I do believe. He would go out of his way to help someone if he sees the need. I love him even more for his giant heart and his kindness towards others.

If you would like to help with our food drive or make donations you can contact me (Shanaka) through the Mama Bee Does contact form and we can get you involved. If you would like to contribute items to the drive I thought I would share some food drive donating tips with you...

* Use the Food Pyramid to select nutritious, nonperishable foods. We are gathering the healthy, non perishable stuff but try to remember that the kids should get to enjoy the kid friendly foods too.

* For the safety of those served, we will not accept opened items, items with expired dates, or homemade items. Financial gifts are also very much appreciated, as they allow the food bank to balance the nutritional mix of foods that they can offer.

* Please choose plastic containers or canned items rather than glass when you can. We don't want to lose donated items because they get broken in the process of getting them to the food bank.

A list of good items to donate to a food drive:

• Canned tuna or chicken, packed in water
• Canned stews and pastas with meat
• Peanut butter or Soy Butter (there are many peanut allergies out there)
• Canned fruits (in light syrup), applesauce
• 100% juice in cans or boxes (no glass, please)
• Canned vegetables, tomatoes, tomato sauce
• Soups with meat and/or beans, meal-in-a-can
• Cereal and cereal bars
• Nutrition bars like the Zone Perfect bars
• Nutrition drinks like PediaSure, PediaSure SideKicks
• Pasta, spaghetti, macaroni, noodles
• Packages of dry beans
• Boxed meals like Betty Crocker Helper Complete Meals (just add water)

There are plenty more options of items I'm sure you can donate just please remember to check dates of items before donating. If an item has to be kept cold or frozen then don't donate it. Items need to be shelf stable, non perishable goods. We are still working on final details of our food drive. As soon as I have all that worked out I will start sending out emails, etc. letting everyone know what we have going on.

disclaimer: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. The food drive is not part of the study, Little B and I are doing that on our own.